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So let's look at continuances for this afternoon's case.
Number one, MI 2022-001571-1300 North 24th Street.
Number two, MI 2022-001-091-1112 North 24th Street.
3, MI 2022-002-204-1317 North 25th Street, and number 4, MI 2022-001-158-1424 Pemberton Street.
And I will note that that case is continuance for attorney moving parties.
excuse me mr chairman on on the um mi 2022 001091 number two it's 1312 north 24th street
what did i say 1112 okay 1312 north 24th yep all of them are right in the same area
and number 16 this is a joint request from the civic association and the and the applicant
MI 2022-001088. Those cases are continued. Are there any comments from the virtual audience for
those particular cases? I see no hands. Just a moment, Chair. We have Aaron Weston with his hand
up. Mr. Weston, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair. Hi, could you state your name and
spell for the court reporter please hi my name is aaron weston um a-a-r-o-n w-e-s-t-o-n
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do what of those cases which one are you calling about so first of all i'm looking
for clarification as to why these lots
are being
combined into one when they're also
being combined into one.
No, no.
The only question I have is, do you
have any questions about the cases we've just
continued?
Thank you.
This is about the cases that you're talking about.
Sir, I'm sorry,
sir. This is only for continuance,
not for testimony.
here we can move on okay um case number 15 mi 2021
zero zero one one two two 68 14 old york road mr ward could you come on a minute please
mr ward
okay we'll get to that that case is going to be continued we'll get that then when mr ward's
available
we do have another hand chair bernard studevin if you wish sure absolutely
yes sir could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
bernard studovan s s-t-u-d-e-v-a-n you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing
but the truth yes i do are the cases we called which one do you want to talk about um i don't
Um, I don't have a paper. I don't want to talk about cases. My case is I have a I was scheduled for a meeting today with the VA with you guys, but my RCO never gave me a public meeting date.
have my papers for me oh my god i'm my uh
Okay, so so what what what case is that, sir? Where's your location?
Uh, three to two West Coulter.
it's number 10 mr chairman so this is the second listing um
we have no exhibits yet either on this case can i ask you a question
sure when when you give me the date for my zpa meeting is it my responsibility or the rco's
responsibility to set the public meeting deep that that's between you and the rco that's between
you and the rco listen this is the second listing we have no exhibits okay you have have you turned
any paperwork in at all to us no i haven't from from my conversation i i need a zoning adjustment
listen to me listen this is what we're going to do this case is going to be continued next time
must be tried and you're going to have to get a hold of your rco yourself thank you sir
mr chair this is hillary um i just wanted to interject um sir if you're having difficulty
getting in touch with your rco um you can reach out to your district council office
so that you have that option um as well so that you can move forward with your case
i don't even know if he's still on mr mr ward yes sir
Number 15, we have a request from the RCO to continue this case.
Is that Old York Road?
Yes, 6814 Old York Road.
Yeah, we have no objection.
The RCO indicated that overall they support the application, but they have some concerns they want us to address.
So we've got to make some tweaks to the plans and get them back to them.
Thank you, Mr. Ward.
You're welcome.
Right. Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
All right, we're going to go to the first case we have on our list, which is number five.
MI 2022-001-089-15 South 52nd Street.
Robert Careless is the attorney.
Walnut Hill Community Association sends letter of support with Proviso.
Mr. Careless is coming back in now as a panelist, Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, Mr. Careless, how are you?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Robert Careless, C-A-R-E-L-E-S-S, Cozen O'Connor, 1650 Market Street, Philadelphia, EPA.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
yes i do would you identify your client the relationship to the property yes sir uh i
represent jp morgan chase bank uh chase is the equitable owner of the property uh we have
submitted with our exhibits um the first and last page of the agreement of sale for the property
thank you our vice chair has a few questions hi mr careless do you agree to wave the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof
of ownership tax compliance or referral photos under plans of the property five days in advance
of this hearing and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes to every question but one
in the submission of our exhibits in the chase is closing on the property at the end of the month
taxes will be paid at the end of the month but we do not have not been able to obtain a tax
clearance certificate because it has to be paid at closing um we did confer with uh the the zba
administrator and the solicitor and i i'm here to add request um that we'd be permitted to proceed
with the testimony today um and evidence and then if the board's so inclined either to condition
approval upon submission of that letter of the certificate or uh continuous for a resumption
hearing for the limited purpose of me coming back to put the tax clearance certificate into the
record and then the board could take its vote that if it's so inclined okay and that'll be up to the
chairman chairman that's fine that's fine thank you mr chairman for that one one one question
um your plans have changed or amended yes sir okay uh how many pages uh i believe it was three
pages let me just check that real quick
Thank you.
uh three pages sir okay so our attorney has this question that we want to put to you
in the amended the change is the sign bigger uh the dimension of the sign has changed it's
not gotten any larger dimensions have changed. So where it was, we're not generating another
refusal, right? No, sir. In our exhibit packet, we went through the process with the board to
for leave to obtain a new refusal. We have the new refusal that untied the buy right signage from
the signage that needs relief. That's part of our application in exhibit packet. Okay. Hillary,
were you okay um yeah just wanted to ask on one additional question this is hillary emerson um
mr carol just to clarify so there was an amended refusal and and then on top of that there were
also revised plans i just want to make sure i have that clear yes okay the revised plans happened
after the amended refusal they happened in connection with it but we did not we submitted
the amended plans with the request for the amended refusal but my understanding of the way that we
received the refusal is that it was not a brand new application so out of abundance of caution
we submitted the proviso plan so it's clear um if the board's so inclined to grant our variance that
the plan that we're sending back is the plan the final plan that we're going with um and then just
for the record we did discuss that with the rco the rco did see the amended design and that's
noted in their letter of support to us okay i will just um since we're not voting on it today
we have time to to check on it but i will just check with ellen i to see which version of the
plan that they reviewed to see whether we need to do a proviso plan or not so i don't want to
i don't want to cause confusion and add proviso plans and an amended refusal if they had already
reviewed the plans for the amended refusal so that makes sense okay thank you you're welcome
uh thank you um again bob carol is on behalf of jp morgan chase bank as i noted we are the
equitable owner of the property um we are here to before you on a roof sign uh for the property
which is the philadelphia savings fund building of west philadelphia in the walnut hill section
um jp morgan chase bank is proposed a and as of right financial use for the property
uh in connection with that use they obviously mean signage for the property
all of the signage for the property is as of right um that they are proposing um with the
exception of the roof sign that's subject to the that's before the board today uh the zoning code
prohibits roof signs in in all districts um just to give the board an orientation as to where we
are here we're in the as i said we're in the walnut hill section of the city uh the property
is bounded by 52nd street and ludlow street um in our as i as i was indicating earlier in response
to the questions the initial application that chase filed to the board included all of the signs
um due to the the fabrication schedule that chase has to get its signs um produced we untied the
buy right signs from this sign which is the reasoning that we went and proceeded to get
an amended refusal so that the refusal that's in our exhibit packet today uh is just pertaining to
this um roof sign um so just to show the board what we are uh before you today this is um a north
and south-facing sign illuminated double-sided on the property. We did meet with, and then
Citizens Bank is a former user at this site. They did have a roof sign up there before. The sign
that we're proposing, you know, largely traces the shape of that former Citizens Bank sign right
there um we did meet with um the walnut hill civic association and as noted in their letter we do we
agreed um that the south facing side the sign that faces ludlow street um the illumination of that
sign will be limited to um business hours uh and chase is agreeable to that um and in the um
revised plans that we have in our exhibit packet we did add that note um to the uh drawing so that
if the board is inclined to grant it that if there is a plan on there that notes the restriction of
the illumination for business hours on the south basic sign um you know we respectfully
the purpose of the sign obviously is to signal the building the chase use to motorists uh coming up
down 52nd street many of the uh the signage that is on the building is is sort of
Many of the signage that is on the building is sort of pedestrian-facing, street-onward-facing.
So motorists coming up and down 52nd Street will be able to identify the building with the signage.
Also, we are proud to be in the Walnut Hill section of the city.
And in addition to signaling our building to motorists,
we'd also want to signal the building to those on the 52nd Street regional
somewhere else, the Market-Frankford station here so that people, commuters also know that
we are present in this community. The pictures that I'm showing here to the board are just
different orientations of the building. This is a view from Ludlow Street. This is a view
looking southward on 52nd Street. And as you can see, as I mentioned, we have that Citizens
Bank sign there. With respect to the variance, we believe that this is
um a sign a that's replacing nearly in kind the sign that was there before so therefore we don't
believe that there's any alterations to the character of the community of the neighborhood
here um we don't believe that respectfully that that we wouldn't there be any endangerment to the
public health safety or welfare in fact we think providing adequate signage for the property would
be a safety benefit to motorists to pedestrians um and you know providing adequate signages in
the best best healthy safety and welfare of the community um i'm joined today uh by todd sams who's
the vice president of jp morgan chase bank mr chairman if i could just have him adopt my
testimony i know we're talking about today yep okay mr sams could you raise your hand and come
off mute mr sams you could unmute yourself and wait for the chair please
all right sir could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
yes sir todd samms t-o-d-d-s-a-m-m-s representing jp morgan chase thank you do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed sir mr sam did you hear my
testimony to the board yes i did and would you adopt and affirm that testimony as if it were
your own today yes i would mr chairman i have nothing for mr sams thank you are happy to answer
any questions the board might have questions from the board no no mr chairman no questions
or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
good afternoon this is greg waldman from planning commission staff uh last name is spelled w-a-l-d-m-a-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change from CMX4 to CMX3 at this location.
The proposed sign replaces one that had previously existed and does not expand an existing nonconformity.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the variance.
Thank you.
Mr. Karelis, I just talked to our attorney.
We're going to close the record on this, and all we'll need is the tax information, and we'll do it then, okay?
That sounds fine, Mr. Chair.
Is that okay?
Yes, Mr. Chair, that's fine.
We'll close the record except for receipt of the tax certification.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Have a good afternoon.
Thank you.
MI 2022-001-142-1831-33 Frankfurt Avenue.
The attorney is Ryan Bolin.
Letter of support from Fishtown Neighbors Association.
letter of support from Fishtown-Kendington neighborhood business improvement plan.
Mr. Boland is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, good afternoon, Mr. Boland.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Ryan Boland, R-Y-A-N-B-O-L-A-N-D.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?